Looking for Ramps (Wild Garlic)

[madmapler]

I was pulling taps today and found myself in a large patch of Ramps. I thought I'd post a thread about them because this is the time of year to get them. I did'nt get a pic but they're pretty easy ID. They usually cover quite an area and grow in clumps. The forest floor may be green with them. The leaves unfold off a shoot and are long and blade like. They are about 1/2 to 1" wide. The stem going into the ground is white and underground is a small tuber that is almost nonexistent at this stage. They are usually one of the first things to come up through the leaves.Their most identitying charicteristic is the smell and taste.(I'd smell them first). Its a cross between garlic and onion and its very strong. They are pretty sweet as well. The entire plant is edible but the leaves are the easiest to harvest. They are becoming very popular(and pricey) in restaurants and in Canada I believe there is a law banning or regulating their harvest. The only two places I know to find them are in the hardwoods where there is abundant Maple trees so I thought it might make tap pulling a little more interesting for some. We freeze them and my wife makes a pretty awesome Pesto with them. If you should happen to find a patch I would'nt let it get around. If you google it you can get pics and more info.

[Run Forest Run!]

Hey Sean, I googled ramps and saw a picture and read the description. I'd never heard of them before.

Your advice to smell the plant as you pick it is likely a good idea as they look like a dead ringer (no pun intended) to Lily-of-the-Valley which I'm sure makes a memorable, and toxic, pesto. :o

[madmapler]

You're right Karen. At first glance they look a lot like Lily of the valley even by the way they cover the ground. The leaf is a little thinner though.

[Rhino]

Sean, Wife and i love them to, she loves the leaves in salads and we both like the bulbs pan fried in butter with salt and pepper. The bulbs get bigger as the spring drags on but when the leaves start to shadow the woods floor the leaves turn yellow and dry up. Would love to sell them at our farmers markets but way to much time invested cleaning them. We call them wild leeks, same thing though. There are books out there that have lots of wild plants you can eat and the books show pics how to identify them. Ever try stinging neddle leaves steamed? taste like spinach with a hint of lemon. good luck foraging!!!!

[maplerookie]

I ate them as a kid--- raw. we used to do a lot of playing in the woods. army, combat, rat patrol, cowboys and Indians etc so we always knew where the good stuff was. My mom used to joke that she could smell me coming from a mile away. I used to love them. probably still would if I could find any. Oh, I know where they grow ... one of my childhood haunts...miles away. We call them leeks as well.

[happy thoughts]

Sean, pesto sounds great. Any chance of a recipe?

I came across this all ramp menu a few weeks ago for anyone interested in ramp overkill :)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/03/serious-entertaining-ramps-ramps-ramps-ramps-ramps.html

[madmapler]

Wild leeks is the other name I was trying to think of. Instead I came up with garlic. Heard about the nettles but never tried them. They're around here but are kinda rare. Next for me will be fiddleheads then morels. I'll be glad to post the recipe in a few days when my wife gets home from visiting family....... Rat Patrol! I thought we were the only ones who played that!

[RileySugarbush]

I have patches all around the sugar house. They are another indicator of when to pull the taps!

[bigschuss]

I knew them as wild leeks when I was a kid. My buddies in the military from the South all called them ramps. I enjoy picking them in the spring. The pesto idea is a great one. I freeze some every year and use them in homemade salsa, venison chili, and on pizza. Fry some up in a little butter and with some fresh fiddle head ferns….oh man, so good it will make your tongue slap your brains out!

[Michael Greer]

I always take a little trowel to dig them, and have transplanted them with great success. Anywhere you plant even just one will multiply in a very short time. They bloom with tiny white flowers that kind of resemble a miniature Queen Anns Lace. If you remember where you found them, you can return in the fall to find little four inch stems with a cluster of black seeds on the top which are easy to plant also...just sprinkle them in the sugarbush and stand back.

[bigschuss]

I always take a little trowel to dig them, and have transplanted them with great success. Anywhere you plant even just one will multiply in a very short time. They bloom with tiny white flowers that kind of resemble a miniature Queen Anns Lace. If you remember where you found them, you can return in the fall to find little four inch stems with a cluster of black seeds on the top which are easy to plant also...just sprinkle them in the sugarbush and stand back.

That's interesting,because I have replanted them with very little success. They take. But they do not spread or multiple at all. I like your tip about the seeds. I'm guessing my transplant site is inferior.

[Yellzee]

Is this the right thing? Just starting here but I see tons of it9697

[maplerookie]

Wild leeks is the other name I was trying to think of. Instead I came up with garlic. Heard about the nettles but never tried them. They're around here but are kinda rare. Next for me will be fiddleheads then morels. I'll be glad to post the recipe in a few days when my wife gets home from visiting family....... Rat Patrol! I thought we were the only ones who played that!Yes and combat. with vic morrow! Guess we are showin our age here!

[madmapler]

Yes and combat. with vic morrow! Guess we are showin our age here! You're recalling things I have'nt thought about in years. Just a few years though.:)

[madmapler]

Is this the right thing? 9697 I would say that it is so long as it smells and tastes right. You'll know for sure doing that.

[maplerookie]

You're recalling things I have'nt thought about in years. Just a few years though.:) Yes that is true...it is funny when you recall things and share them with the younger folks..they look at you like your head is screwed on sideways! lol! Like Alfred Hitchcock gunsmoke, the rifleman..still in reruns though. etc High chapparel, bonanza.. lost in space lol back in the day when we had no remote control and we had to get up and adjust the rabbit ears for clarity.and put tin foil on them and we got the brand new color tv. Back in the day! when they made maple syrup and my great uncle told me they didn't can it hot.. it all went into tin containers .

[madmapler]

Yes that is true...it is funny when you recall things and share them with the younger folks..they look at you like your head is screwed on sideways! . Who'd a thought we'd be singing the same tune Archie and Edith sang! Weird huh? I'm glad I grew up then and not now though but I guess thats for another forum .

[RileySugarbush]

Salmon with Onions and Ramps

9698

Delicious!!!!!

[Sugar Warrior]

Here is our favorite recipe for wild leeks or ramps:

You can chop up and toss wild leeks or ramps – bulb, stem and leaves – for flavoring in any dish that calls for garlic or scallions.

Wild Leek and Potato Soup: Ingredients: Wild leeks, 3 potatoes, olive oil, 1 quart chicken broth

1. Remove roots and the tough sheath that surrounds the small white bulb.
2. Thoroughly wash with several changes of water to remove all sand or dirt.
3. Cook two or three potatoes in the microwave removing skin if desired.
4. Chop ramps into 1-inch long piece including the bulbs and leaves.
5. Add a little olive oil into a 2 or 3 quart pot or pan and sauté until the ramps are tender.
6. Add chicken broth.
7. Add potatoes in chunks crushing them a bit.
8. Heat and serve. (Optional: you can add some flour or cornstarch in a little water to thicken, we usually don’t.)

[maplerookie]

Here is our favorite recipe for wild leeks or ramps:

You can chop up and toss wild leeks or ramps – bulb, stem and leaves – for flavoring in any dish that calls for garlic or scallions.

Wild Leek and Potato Soup: Ingredients: Wild leeks, 3 potatoes, olive oil, 1 quart chicken broth

1. Remove roots and the tough sheath that surrounds the small white bulb.
2. Thoroughly wash with several changes of water to remove all sand or dirt.
3. Cook two or three potatoes in the microwave removing skin if desired.
4. Chop ramps into 1-inch long piece including the bulbs and leaves.
5. Add a little olive oil into a 2 or 3 quart pot or pan and sauté until the ramps are tender.
6. Add chicken broth.
7. Add potatoes in chunks crushing them a bit.
8. Heat and serve. (Optional: you can add some flour or cornstarch in a little water to thicken, we usually don’t.) Sounds delish

[happy thoughts]

That's interesting,because I have replanted them with very little success. They take. But they do not spread or multiple at all. I like your tip about the seeds. I'm guessing my transplant site is inferior.

I found this brief article today on cultivating ramps based on research from North Carolina State. Ramps have always been a favored spring food in Appalachia. They are not the easiest to cultivate and take a few years to establish if you're successful. There's info on both starting from seed and establishing transplants. A moist rich sugar maple woods makes an ideal habitat but time of seeding or transplanting is also important.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-133.html

@ sugar warrior. Your soup sounds delish. I'm going to try and tweak it today and make a cream version. Thanks for the recipe :)

[RileySugarbush]

If anyone in MN wants to dig some to start in their woods, I'd be happy to donate some. Contact by PM if you are interested.

[madmapler]

Ramp Pesto recipe as promised.http://food52.com/recipes/4341-wild-ramp-pesto This is the one we use but there are several recipes online.

[Brokermike]

They are also wicked good carmelized with bacon on homeade pizza. I picked some on Wednesday and killed a nice turkey on Thursday to cook up with them

[madmapler]

First of all "way to go" Mike. Secondly is my story. Today I really was the "Madmapler". My sugar bush is a few miles down the road from me and I pass by it daily. I've been seeing an old van parked there over the past few days and I figured it was a Turkey hunter. A few locals pick ramps there on occasion as well. Today I went down to finish pulling some taps and the van was there and sure enough I saw a guy on the hillside digging up Ramps. Then I saw another guy and then another. Then I saw another guy coming down the trail with a large clothes basket on his shoulder packed full of ramps. I knew they were'nt locals because they "no speaka englais very goot". "Un ------- believable"! There was a whole crew of them in there and they were digging up everything in sight! I mean they were leaving nothing but tilled soil and trash in their wake. Man did I flip out! I told them I leased the land (I do sorta) and to get the ------ out! Then I went down to the farm to alert the guy who owns the land. We went out on his front yard and looked up the road toward them and they were literally running back and forth from the woods with full baskets and cramming them in the van. He's not the confrontational type so, with his "blessing" I went back up there and finished my little tirade. Its one thing to pick some for yourself but these guys were doing it commercially without offering anything to the landowner. They were stealing and trashing his property. I looked in the van before they took off and they had clothes baskets piled on top of each other. He did'nt want to call the police and thats his choice. I'm just afraid now that he's going to be dealing with a lot of this. These guys were from down toward Springfield, Mass. and who knows who else is going to be in there. Like I said in a previous post, if you find a spot, don't let it get around.

[happy thoughts]

Sean, that is such a shame. I wish your friend was more willing to file charges. It takes many years for a stand to establish itself. I hope there are enough left to regenerate themselves. I think the article I posted yesterday said not to harvest more than 15% of the stand/year. Unfortunatetly, ramps have become very fashionable and no longer considered just fit for hillbillies. I have seen them sold online for between $15-$35 / pound. Wild stands don't stand a chance with prices like that. They're going to go the way of quinoa which has become so expensive the native people that used it as a major food staple can no longer afford it. That's only if there are any left to survive.

Thanks for the pesto recipe. I'm going to make some this week. I have some frozen hickory nuts and am thinking of using them in place of the walnuts. Luckily my stand is deep in my property where they would not be easy to see from the road.

[madmapler]

Fortunately there is a good abundance on that hillside but that can change in a hurry. I've tried to make him aware of what he has there with the hope that he'll do something to protect the area. There are some that are visible from the road which could draw people in. I think after today he may be starting to get the idea. I'm afraid Ramps are going the way of the Fiddleheads and Morels. I had my own spots for years and now its a competition to get in there before someone else does. It tends to take the fun out of it. It's not supposed to be stressful.:(

[Yellzee]

Harvested a small chunk today and Had some ramp and vegetable soup. Not too strong but nice taste to it. Tomorrow is ramp and potato soup. They are a decent size now